Tides Of War: Gettysburg

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, military professionals, historians, and game designers created this game to closely replicate the actual battlefield conditions and operations of Gettysburg in 1863. The game comes in both a standard and collector’s edition and is played on an oversized game board with 172 miniature commanders and 126 brigade counters. The collector’s edition comes with life-like pewter miniatures on a magnetized metal game board for stability, and a carved wood base with drawers for storing the miniatures. In lieu of the game’s dice and chart system, attacking and defending units can enter their strength, location, and orientation into the Interactive Game App (IGA) which then simulates the battle conditions to determine results. A unit’s strength is represented by possible Combat Factors on a brigade counter encircling a rotating miniature. The miniature is turned toward lower numbers as casualties are taken or is increased up to full strength as depleted units are merged into it. Reinforcement, Supply, and Morale Cards also affect the Combat Factor and randomness of game play. The game also uses a Double Turn Rule where after the initial attack, both the attacker and defender may move all of their units one hexagon, defenders first. This allows both sides to retreat, stand, or bring up reinforcements during the turn. Units still in contact fight each other one more time before the turn ends. Artillery has a range of four hexagons and is only required to engage in battle if the enemy’s artillery is in range. Incremental casualties, merging and resupplying units, and double-turn combat combine to recreate actual conditions, while the IGA cuts playing time in half. Tactical skill, not luck prevails, and the winner may rewrite history.